On the screen (big or small), the airwaves, and in the bookstore, we were captivated by new talent in 2012. From fresh faces with fresh voices, like Lena Dunham and Rebel Wilson, to veterans who were really given the chance to shine this year, like Channing Tatum and Jonathan Banks, here are the 20 stars that grabbed hold of our attention in 2012 — and we hope won't let go any time soon.
TV's Breakout Stars
Lena Dunham
She may be a polarizing figure, but even naysayers can’t deny that this was the year of Lena Dunham. The writer/director/producer/author/actress barreled right into the upper echelon of entertainers with her stripped down, brutally honest HBO series Girls and rolled right into a $3.6 million dollar book deal. And all this at the age of 26. As her Girls character Hannah Horvath mumbles while high on opium tea: Dunham’s not necessarily the voice of her generation, but she’s certainly a voice of a generation. Plus, Louis C.K. agrees that what she’s doing is “important,” and he’s pretty tough to argue with.
Max Greenfield
In just one season, Max Greenfield's wonderfully douchey character Schmidt joined the ranks of classic singularly named sitcom sidekicks like Kramer and Fez. Greenfield's nuanced performance as the (actually quite insecure deep down inside) Schmidt helped make New Girl into one of the best comedies on television, and forever changed the way we said "chutney."
Mindy Kaling
After years of toiling away behind a desk on The Office, Mindy Kaling is finally front and center in her Fox comedy The Mindy Project. Don't let the crappy name fool you, the comedy about a ditzy doctor looking for love in a crazy office is more original and off-kilter than it would suggest.
Jessica Paré
It would be impossible to sing the praises of the brilliant Season 5 of Mad Men without singing the praises of the sexy, talented woman who sang 2012's most unexpected viral sensation: "Zou Bisou Bisou." Whether you loved or hated Paré's Megan, her impact on the show this season was undeniable.
Chris Messina
Every girl needs a guy to drool over, right? For Mindy Kaling, it's the somewhat jerky macho man played by Chris Messina on The Mindy Project. With character turns in Argo, Celeste and Jesse Forever, and recurring spots on Damages and (ugh) The Newsroom, this dreamboat hasn't had any time to rest.
Damian Lewis
As war hero turned terrorist turned (maybe?) CIA ally Sergeant Nicolas Brody on Showtime's acclaimed series Homeland, Damian Lewis kept us on the edge of our seats Sunday after Sunday. Despite Claire Danes' quivering chin's attempt to steal every scene, Lewis' Brody acted as the show's emotional heart. In 2012, Lewis took home the Best Actor in a Drama Series Emmy he so deserved.
Jonathan Banks
When an actor has been in the game as long as Jonathan Banks has, making a career on dozens of supporting and guest roles, it’d take a superhuman performance to launch him to the forefront of the pop culture conversation. After two years as Breaking Bad’s no-nonsense backup player Mike Ehrmantraut, Banks earned colossal notoriety with his turn in the AMC series’ fifth season. Mike, always a well liked character, became the show’s central pull when Banks instilled in him the strength, frustration, and pain that award-caliber performances are made of. His rise and fall as a prominent player in the business dealings of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and in his own relationship with his beloved granddaughter exhibited everything the crime drama mainstay Banks had at his disposal, about which we might never have known. Thankfully, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan gave this once nameless character the spotlight this year, placing in Banks' capable hands the show’s pulsing humanity.
Up Next: The Biggest Breakouts on the Silver ScreenMovies' Biggest Breakouts
Quvenzhane Wallis
It always sparks chatter when a newcomer to the acting game gives a breathtaking performance — but Quvenzhane Wallis is the extreme. A five-year-old first-time actor at the time of her role in the magnificent tearjerker Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wallis doesn’t just take your breath away, she lays claim to your entire respiratory system. No performance in all of 2012 was bigger than young Wallis’. Despise her age, she managed to not only to keep up with director Benh Zeitlin’s Earth-shattering parable for the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina, but she launched the story to otherworldly levels of emotional resonance. Wallis’ role in the feature has attracted her to great auteur Steven McQueen, which means that she’ll be enjoying a long, steady career of quality projects as long as she might wish to.
Ezra Miller
Considering readers’ devotion to Stephen Chbosky’s classic, life-affirming novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the celebration of the book’s big screen adaptation is all the more impressive. One of the most important elements in the construction of such a perfect adaptation is the casting, one of the many areas in which writer/director Chbosky triumphed: Logan Lerman was a terrific Charlie and Emma Watson a stellar Sam. But standing out among them was Ezra Miller, who brought so much life and humor, so much pain and turmoil into the character of Patrick that you’ll forget you ever imagined him in another light. Earlier in the year, Miller dazzled and horrified as the tormented teenage star of We Need to Talk About Kevin, inspiring shivers and tears with his incarnation of the dark, disturbed main character driven to horrible violence. As such, we can call Miller’s range boundless.
Rebel Wilson
It’s no small feat to steal the spotlight from comedy bigwigs like Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, especially when you only have a few short lines in the entire movie – but that’s exactly what Rebel Wilson did in Bridesmaids. This hilarious Aussie comedian became a household name after that, going on to star in another raunchy wedding-themed film Bachelorette, and becoming the first person cast in the collegiate a capella comedy Pitch Perfect.
Dane DeHaan
DeHaan looks like a young Leonardo DiCaprio — meaning he would have been fine taking easy parts that capitalized on his good looks. Luckily, in 2012 the actor did so much more than that, parlaying his time on In Treatment into a string of roles in risky works like Chronicle, Lawless, and Lincoln. 2013 is also looking bright, with The Place Beyond the Pines, a sprawling family drama that debuted to raves at this year's Toronto Film Festival, arriving in the Spring, and Sundance 2013 premiere Kill Your Darlings, which DeHaan costars in alongside Daniel Radcliffe. Oh, and he just landed a juicy part in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, in case all that heavy material was starting to scare you.
Channing Tatum
“An hour [to sum up] the year? Am I supposed to just scratch the surface of Channing Tatum's meteoric rise?" We feel your pain, Liz Lemon. There's no way this entry would do justice to the year Tatum had, what with his People's Sexiest Man Alive title and eclectic, surprising performances on the big screen (Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street, The Vow). It's his world now, we're all just just happily living in it.
Scoot McNairy
After his impressive turn in the 2010 sci-fi indie film Monsters, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood picked up on McNairy and wrangled him for bigger features. Going quiet for more than a year, McNairy dominated the Fall award season with eclectic roles in Argo, Killing Them Softly, and Promised Land. The actor held his own against big names like Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt, a nearly impossible task made easy by McNairy's ability to slip into any shoes, from criminal junkie to farmhand to Iranian embassy worker.
Up Next: Music and MoreThe Biggest Breakouts of Music, Sports, and Literature
Ryan Lochte
Though he may now be the world’s most famous “Sex Idiot” per 30 Rock, Ryan Lochte broke out in 2012 thanks to his skills in the pool. At least initially. After winning five medals in London during the Summer Olympics, Lochte’s fame grew thanks to his go-to exclamation ("Jeah!"), his economy of words (“I like swimming because racing”), and of course, that grill. Oh, and he’s pretty hot too.
Phillip Phillips
Despite his extensive health problems (which plagued him through his run on American Idol), Phillips has managed to carve out a nice little fan base with his ubiquitous hit “Home.” After winning the Fox singing competition, Phillips recorded his first and only Mumford and Sons-ish single, sending it straight to NBC as the theme of this year’s Summer Olympics in London. Now, the familiar trotting and cooing of Phillips’ musical equivalent of comfort food can be heard just about everywhere. If only that album of his would come our way a little faster!
Ed Sheeran
If you turned on the radio at some point this year, you know who Ed Sheeran is. This English singer-songwriter is best known for his hit, “The A Team,” and for co-writing “Little Things,” “Over Again,” and “Moments” for super group boy band One Direction. He also played at the Olympics' closing ceremony and co-wrote (and is heard on) Taylor Swift’s track “Everything Has Changed.”
Frank Ocean
This year, Ocean broke out of his role as a ghost writer for big acts like Justin Bieber and John Legend and released one of the most beloved albums of 2012, Channel Orange, which features singles like “Pyramids” and “Sweet Life” characterized by subdued rhythms, experimental elements, and haunting melodies that music-lovers quickly embraced. But it wasn’t simply his talent and flair for innovation that shined in 2012, it was his bravery. Ocean became one of the first openly gay hip-hop artists in mainstream music, and was quickly embraced for his openness in a world often characterized as homophobic.
Jess Walter
With six novels and a prestigious journalism career under his belt, Jess Walter is in no way a newcomer. However, his extraordinary novel Beautiful Ruins not only snagged a spot on the New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2012, but also made him a household name. Walter's sweeping tale of love, which spans five decades and takes us from the Italian countryside in the 1960s to Hollywood pitch meetings in the present day, is the kind of story that stays with you. Walter is similarly a talent who is sure to weather the ages.
Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn's first two novels (Sharp Objects and Dark Places) earned critical acclaim and book awards buzz, but no book made more of a splash this year than Flynn's tightly written thriller Gone Girl. The eye-catching black and neon cover was a subway staple, and book clubs all over the country discussed the novel's big twist at length. Now, Flynn is in talks to adapt her suspenseful tale of betrayal and murder to the big screen, ensuring we'll see much more of her, as well as her unforgettable characters, Nick and Amy, in the years to come.
E. L. James
After the year she's had, E. L. James hardly needs an introduction. In 2012, James transformed from a British housewife writing Twilight fan fiction in her spare time to the year's best-selling author (for her erotic Fifty Shades trilogy). She was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World, and one of Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People. Not too shabby.
[Photo Credit: WENN (2); INF Photo]
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Staff Picks: The 15 Best TV Shows of 2012 (And the 5 Worst)
Play it Again: The 12 Best Albums of 2012
The 20 Best Movies of 2012 (and the 5 Worst)
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While recent animated blockbusters have aimed to viewers of all ages starting with fantastical concepts and breathtaking visuals but tackling complex emotional issues along the way Ice Age: Continental Drift is crafted especially for the wee ones — and it works. Venturing back to prehistoric times once again the fourth Ice Age film paints broad strokes on the theme of familial relationships throwing in plenty of physical comedy along the way. The movie isn't that far off from one of the many Land Before Time direct-to-video sequels: not particularly innovative or necessary but harmless thrilling fun for anyone with a sense of humor. Unless they have a particular distaste for wooly mammoths the kids will love it.
Ice Age: Continental Drift continues to snowball its cartoon roster bringing back the original film's trio (Ray Romano as Manny the Mammoth Denis Leary as Diego the Sabertooth Tiger and John Leguizamo as Sid the Sloth) new faces acquired over the course of the franchise (Queen Latifah as Manny's wife Ellie) and a handful of new characters to spice things up everyone from Nicki Minaj as Manny's daughter Steffie to Wanda Sykes as Sid's wily grandma. The whole gang is living a pleasant existence as a herd with Manny's biggest problem being playing overbearing dad to the rebellious daughter. Teen mammoths they always want to go out and play by the waterfall! Whippersnappers.
The main thrust of the film comes when Scratch the Rat (whose silent comedy routines in the vein of Tex Avery/WB cartoons continue to be the series highlight) accidentally cracks the singular continent Pangea into the world we know today. Manny Diego and Sid find themselves stranded on an iceberg once again forced on a road trip journey of survival. The rest of the herd embarks to meet them giving Steffie time to realize the true meaning of friendship with help from her mole pal Louis (Josh Gad).
The ham-handed lessons may drag for those who've passed Kindergarten but Ice Age: Continental Drift is a lot of fun when the main gang crosses paths with a group of villainous pirates. (Back then monkeys rabbits and seals were hitting the high seas together pillaging via boat-shaped icebergs. Obviously.) Quickly Ice Age becomes an old school pirate adventure complete with maritime navigation buried treasure and sword fights. Gut (Peter Dinklage) an evil ape with a deadly... fingernail leads the evil-doers who pose an entertaining threat for the familiar bunch. Jennifer Lopez pops by as Gut's second-in-command Shira the White Tiger and the film's two cats have a chase scene that should rouse even the most apathetic adults. Hearing Dinklage (of Game of Thrones fame) belt out a pirate shanty may be worth the price of admission alone.
With solid action (that doesn't need the 3D addition) cartoony animation and gags out the wazoo Ice Age: Continental Drift is entertainment to enjoy with the whole family. Revelatory? Not quite. Until we get a feature length silent film of Scratch's acorn pursuit we may never see a "classic" Ice Age film but Continental Drift keeps it together long enough to tell a simple story with delightful flare that should hold attention spans of any length. Massive amounts of sugar not even required.
[Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox]

Widening the thematic scope without sacrificing too much of the claustrophobia that made the original 1979 Alien universally spooky Prometheus takes the trophy for this summer's most adult-oriented blockbuster entertainment. The movie will leave your mouth agape for its entire runtime first with its majestic exploration of an alien planet and conjectures on the origins of the human race second with its gross-out body horror that leaves no spilled gut to the imagination. Thin characters feel more like pawns in Scott's sci-fi prequel but stunning visuals shocking turns and grand questions more than make up for the shallow ensemble. "Epic" comes in many forms. Prometheus sports all of them.
Based on their discovery of a series of cave drawings all sharing a similar painted design Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie (Logan Marshall-Green) are recruited by Weyland to head a mission to another planet one they believe holds the answers to the creation of life on Earth. Along for the journey are Vickers (Charlize Theron) the ruthless Weyland proxy Janek (Idris Elba) a blue collar captain a slew of faceless scientists and David (Michael Fassbender) HAL 9000-esque resident android who awakens the crew of spaceship Prometheus when they arrive to their destination. Immediately upon descent there's a discovery: a giant mound that's anything but natural. The crew immediately prepares to scope out the scene zipping up high-tech spacesuits jumping in futuristic humvees and heading out to the site. What they discover are the awe-inspiring creations of another race. What they bring back to the ship is what they realize may kill their own.
The first half of Prometheus could be easily mistaken for Steven Spielberg's Alien a sense of wonder glowing from every frame not too unlike Close Encounters. Scott takes full advantage of his fictional settings and imbues them with a reality that makes them even more tantalizing. He shoots the vistas of space and the alien planet like National Geographic porn and savors the interior moments on board the Prometheus full of hologram maps sleeping pods and do-it-yourself surgery modules with the same attention. Prometheus is beautiful shot in immersive 3D that never dampers Dariusz Wolski's sharp photography. Scott's direction seems less interested in the run-or-die scenario set up in the latter half of the film but the film maintains tension and mood from beginning to end. It all just gets a bit…bloodier.
Jon Spaihts' and Damon Lindelof's script doesn't do the performers any favors shuffling them to and fro between the ship and the alien construction without much room for development. Reveals are shoehorned in without much setup (one involving Theron's Vickers that's shockingly mishandled) but for the most part the ensemble is ready to chomp into the script's bigger picture conceits. Rapace is a physical performer capable of pulling off a grisly scene involving an alien some sharp objects and a painful procedure (sure to be the scene of the blockbuster season. Among the rest of the crew Fassbender's David stands out as the film's revelatory performance delivering a digestible ambiguity to his mechanical man that playfully toys with expectations from his first entrance. The creature effects in Prometheus will wow you but even Fassbender's smallest gesture can send the mind spinning. The power of his smile packs more of a punch than any facehugger.
Much like Lindelof's Lost Prometheus aims to explore the idea of asking questions and seeking answers and on Scott's scale it's a tremendous unexpected ride. A few ideas introduced to spur action fall to the way side in the logic department but with a clear mission and end point Prometheus works as a sweeping sci-fi that doesn't require choppy editing or endless explosions to keep us on the edge of our seats. Prometheus isn't too far off from the Alien xenomorphs: born from existing DNA of another creature the movie breaks out as its own beast. And it's wilder than ever.
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At some point in the early years of the 21st century a bunch of Hollywood executives must have gotten together and decided that animated films should be made for all audiences. The goal was perhaps to make movies that are simultaneously accessible to the older and younger sets with colorful imagery that one expects from children’s films and two levels of humor: one that’s quite literal and harmless and another that’s somewhat subversive. The criteria has resulted in cross-generational hits like Wall-E and Madagascar and though it’s nice to be able to take my nephew to the movies and be as entertained by cartoon characters as he is I can’t help but wonder what happened to unabashedly innocent animated classics like A Goofy Movie and The Land Before Time?
Disney’s Winnie The Pooh is the answer to the Shrek’s and Hoodwinked!’s of the world: a short sweet simple and lighthearted tale of friendship that doesn’t need pop-culture references or snarky dialogue to put a smile on your face. Directors Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall found some fresh ways to deliver adorable animation while keeping the carefree spirit of A.A. Milne’s source material in tact. Their story isn’t the most original; the first part of the film finds Pooh Piglet Tigger and Owl searching for Eeyore’s tail (a common plot point in the books and past Pooh films) and hits all the predictable notes but the second half mixes things up a bit as the crew searches for a missing Christopher Robin whom they believe has been kidnapped by a forest creature known as the “Backson” (it’s really just the result of the illiterate Owl or is it?).
The beauty of hand-drawn animation all but forgotten until recently is what makes Winnie the Pooh so incredibly magnetic. There’s an inexplicable crispness to the colors and characters that CG just can’t duplicate. It’s a more personal practice for the filmmakers and should provide a refreshing experience for audiences who have become jaded with the pristine presentation of computerized imagery. The film is bookended by brief live-action shots from inside Robin’s room an interesting dynamic that plays up the simplicity of youth ties it to these beloved characters and brings you right back to memories of your own childhood.
With a just-over-an-hour run time Winnie the Pooh is short enough to hold the attention of children but won’t bore the parents who will love the film mainly for nostalgic musings. Still it’s the young’uns who will most enjoy this breezy bright and enchanting film that proves old-school characters can appeal to new moviegoers.

The first and most important thing you should know about Paramount Pictures’ Thor is that it’s not a laughably corny comic book adaptation. Though you might find it hokey to hear a bunch of muscled heroes talk like British royalty while walking around the American Southwest in LARP garb director Kenneth Branagh has condensed vast Marvel mythology to make an accessible straightforward fantasy epic. Like most films of its ilk I’ve got some issues with its internal logic aesthetic and dialogue but the flaws didn’t keep me from having fun with this extra dimensional adventure.
Taking notes from fellow Avenger Iron Man the story begins with an enthralling event that takes place in a remote desert but quickly jumps back in time to tell the prologue which introduces the audience to the shining kingdom of Asgard and its various champions. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) son of Odin is heir to the throne but is an arrogant overeager and ill-tempered rogue whose aggressive antics threaten a shaky truce between his people and the frost giants of Jotunheim one of the universe’s many realms. Odin (played with aristocratic boldness by Anthony Hopkins) enraged by his son’s blatant disregard of his orders to forgo an assault on their enemies after they attempt to reclaim a powerful artifact banishes the boy to a life among the mortals of Earth leaving Asgard defenseless against the treachery of Loki his mischievous “other son” who’s always felt inferior to Thor. Powerless and confused the disgraced Prince finds unlikely allies in a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings) who help him reclaim his former glory and defend our world from total destruction.
Individually the make-up visual effects CGI production design and art direction are all wondrous to behold but when fused together to create larger-than-life set pieces and action sequences the collaborative result is often unharmonious. I’m not knocking the 3D presentation; unlike 2010’s genre counterpart Clash of the Titans the filmmakers had plenty of time to perfect the third dimension and there are only a few moments that make the decision to convert look like it was a bad one. It’s the unavoidable overload of visual trickery that’s to blame for the frost giants’ icy weaponized constructs and other hybrids of the production looking noticeably artificial. Though there’s some imagery to nitpick the same can’t be said of Thor’s thunderous sound design which is amped with enough wattage to power The Avengers’ headquarters for a century.
Chock full of nods to the comics the screenplay is both a strength and weakness for the film. The story is well sequenced giving the audience enough time between action scenes to grasp the characters motivations and the plot but there are tangential narrative threads that disrupt the focus of the film. Chief amongst them is the frost giants’ fore mentioned relic which is given lots of attention in the first act but has little effect on the outcome. In addition I felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. was nearly irrelevant this time around; other than introducing Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye the secret security faction just gets in the way of the movie’s momentum.
While most of the comedy crashes and burns there are a few laughs to be found in the film. Most come from star Hemsworth’s charismatic portrayal of the God of Thunder. He plays up the stranger-in-a-strange-land aspect of the story with his cavalier but charming attitude and by breaking all rules of diner etiquette in a particularly funny scene with the scientists whose respective roles as love interest (Portman) friendly father figure (Skarsgaard) and POV character (Dennings) are ripped right out of a screenwriters handbook.
Though he handles the humorous moments without a problem Hemsworth struggles with some of the more dramatic scenes in the movie; the result of over-acting and too much time spent on the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Luckily he’s surrounded by a stellar supporting cast that fills the void. Most impressive is Tom Hiddleston who gives a truly humanistic performance as the jealous Loki. His arc steeped in Shakespearean tragedy (like Thor’s) drums up genuine sympathy that one rarely has for a comic book movie villain.
My grievances with the technical aspects of the production aside Branagh has succeeded in further exploring the Marvel Universe with a film that works both as a standalone superhero flick and as the next chapter in the story of The Avengers. Thor is very much a comic book film and doesn’t hide from the reputation that its predecessors have given the sub-genre or the tropes that define it. Balanced pretty evenly between “serious” and “silly ” its scope is large enough to please fans well versed in the source material but its tone is light enough to make it a mainstream hit.

The problems with TRON: Legacy can be traced back to its origins. According to lore Disney execs spent years kicking around various ideas for revisiting or remaking TRON Steven Lisberger’s groundbreaking 1982 sci-fi flick which among other achievements originated the concept of CGI but nothing stuck and the project stagnated until producer Sean Bailey happened upon an effects test reel created on spec by Joseph Kosinski a commercial director by trade and architect by training. Disney wowed by the reel and encouraged by its enthusiastic reception at Comic-Con agreed to move forward on a big-budget sequel with Kosinski at the helm.
In other words TRON: Legacy didn’t come into being because of a must-read script or a compelling story treatment or even a clever logline; it came into being at a reported cost of nearly $200 million because of a video clip that looked really really cool. This is rarely the stuff of which classic movies are made.
But it does look really really cool. A marvel of production design TRON: Legacy’s aesthetic delivers on the promise of Kosinski’s test reel and more enveloping the audience in a glossy world of black and teal and amber. But like so many Hollywood creations it is drop-dead gorgeous (especially in IMAX) and yet utterly insubstantial a glittering facade built around a largely hollow core. The principle duty of its script from veteran Lost scribes Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz is to provide just enough of a plot to occupy us as Kosinski readies his next opulent set piece. But the film’s story and design elements interact awkwardly and the film is often weighed down by ponderous exposition and flashbacks. It's almost as if its director and writers are running incompatible operating systems.
As the film opens software pioneer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has been missing and presumed dead for over two decades. In truth he is not dead or missing but trapped inside the Grid an alternate universe first envisaged in the 1982 film where computer users interact with software programs (or their humanoid avatars at least) ride motorcycles that travel on ribbons of light and wage death duels with electronic frisbees.
But the Grid has fallen on hard times since its founding as Flynn’s orphaned son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) a 27-year-old adrenaline junkie with an anarchist streak learns when he drops by the place in the hopes of locating his long-lost dad. Sure there are still the lightcycle races and frisbee fights and the infrastructure has undergone a welcome cosmetic upgrade — snazzy skin-tight leather uniforms have replaced the old plastic circuit-board suits — but it’s now become a neo-Roman dictatorship ruled by a maleficent program called CLU. Short for Codified Likeness Utility CLU was created by Flynn to serve as his surrogate but he eventually turned on his master and grabbed the Grid for himself.
CLU sends Sam to the gladiator arena and he seems destined to die there until a spirited vixen named Quorra (Olivia Wilde) the last living representative of a spontaneously evolving digital species (not worth going into) swoops in and rescues him then reunites him with his dad. Father and son make an odd pairing. Hedlund who is now shooting an adaptation of Kerouac's On the Road speaks in sort of a tired throaty monotone perfect for a beat poet but less so for an action star; Bridges meanwhile has reinvented his character as a digitized Dude. Steeped in Zen wisdom he muses about "knocking on the sky to listen to the sound" and making "bio-digital jazz man " and advises his son that "the only way to win the game is not to play." Sound advice but it doesn't do much to move the plot along. So Sam heads off to take on CLU and the old man soon has little choice but to join him.
In CLU one can find no more perfect embodiment of TRON: Legacy’s fatal flaw. Voiced by Bridges and animated with computers using state-of-the-art motion-capture technology the character is meant to appear as a mirror image of a younger Flynn so close in resemblance that his son wouldn't know the difference. But it isn’t. In fact it’s not even close. CLU may be a technical wonder but it's unconvincing as Bridges' digital doppelganger. The filmmakers fell in love with the technology without considering whether it fulfilled its intended purpose — which in this case it clearly doesn’t.* But damned if it doesn't look really really cool.
TRON: Legacy will probably be a big hit with technology fetishists and it could very well end up a 420 staple but it won't likely inspire the kind of furious dorm-room debates that the first TRON film -- or more recent mind-benders like Inception -- did mainly because its plot doesn’t hold up against the most elementary of logical stress tests the most obvious of which is: How did the Grid survive all these years while the computer servers that hosted it were powered down? (And don't even bother to ask what happened to Cillian Murphy's character granted all of one line of dialogue in the first act.) Questions like this might seem inconsequential to Kosinski but they are essential to us. TRON: Legacy represents a landmark achievement in visual effects sound and production design but it's a disappointment in almost every other respect.
* The filmmakers also appear to have ignored the fact that our voices change with age just as our appearances do. CLU may resemble a younger Jeff Bridges but the timbre of his speech is unmistakeably that of the current older version. For an illustration of what I mean listen to the Beach Boys' original 1966 rendition of "Good Vibrations " then compare it to Brian Wilson's 2004 re-recording of the song. Then if you really want to have your mind blown listen to Mark Wahlberg's version.

The God of Legion secular Hollywood’s latest Biblically-inspired action flick is old-school an angry spiteful Almighty with a penchant for Old Testament theatrics. Fed up with humanity’s decadent warmongering ways He’s decided to pull the plug on the whole crazy experiment and start over from scratch.
Fortunately for us the God of Legion is also a rather lazy fellow. Instead of doing the apocalyptic work himself and wiping us out with a giant flood which worked perfectly well last time He opts to delegate the task to His army of angels — a questionable strategy that starts to fall apart when the archangel charged with leading the planned extermination Michael (Paul Bettany) refuses to comply.
Michael who unlike his boss still harbors affection for our sorry species abandons his post and descends to earth where inside the swollen belly of Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) an unwed mother-to-be working as a waitress in an out-of-the-way diner sits humanity’s lone hope for survival. Why is this particular baby so important? Is it the one destined to lead us to victory over Skynet? Heaven knows — Legion reveals little details its script devoid of actual scripture. What is clear is that God’s celestial hitmen want the kid whacked before it’s born.
But Michael won’t let humanity fall without a fight. Armed with a Waco-sized arsenal of assault weapons he hunkers down with the diner’s patrons a largely superfluous collection of thinly-sketched caricatures from various demographic groups led by Dennis Quaid as the diner’s grizzled owner Tyrese Gibson as a hip-hop hustler and Lucas Black as a simple-minded country boy.
Together they mount a heroic final stand against hordes of angels who’ve taken possession of “weak-willed” humans turning kindly old grandmas and mild-mannered ice cream vendors into snarling ravenous foul-mouthed beasts. They descend upon the ramshackle diner in a series of full-frontal assaults commanded by the archangel Gabriel (Kevin Durand) the George Pickett of End of Days generals.
Beneath its superficial religious facade Legion is really just a run-of-the-mill zombie flick a Biblical I Am Legend. Bettany an actor accustomed to smaller dramatic roles in films like A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code looks perfectly at ease in his first major action role wielding machine guns and bowie knives with equal aplomb. Conversely first-time director Scott Stewart a former visual effects artist does little to prove himself worthy of such a promotion serving up some impressive CGI work but not much else worthy of note.

Legendary funnyman Richard Pryor, whose groundbreaking comedy made him one of the most famous comedians of his day, died of a heart attack Saturday, The Associated Press reports. He was 65.
Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley, his business manager, Karen Finch, told AP. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.
"We loved him and will miss you," his ex-wife, Flynn Pryor, said from her Florida home.
Living life close to the edge, Pryor's comedy was considered controversial at times, especially for his fond use of profanity, but the comedian gained a huge following with his spot-on routines. He also battled drug and alcohol addictions for years. And even after he nearly lost his life in 1980 when he caught on fire while freebasing cocaine, he incorporated the ordeal into his stand-up.
Pryor also starred in a series of hit comedies and concert films in the '70s and '80s, making him one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. His films included Stir Crazy, Silver Streak, Which Way Is Up? and Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip.
Pryor was also known for breaking down racial inequalities with his comedy. He once marveled "that I live in racist America and I'm uneducated, yet a lot of people love me and like what I do, and I can make a living from it. You can't do much better than that."
His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, including Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Robin Williams and David Letterman.
Pryor's daughter, actress Rain Pryor, told the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year her father always "put his life right out there for you to look at. I took that approach because I saw how well audiences respond to it. I try to make you laugh at life."
Pryor was married six times. His children include sons Richard and Steven, and daughters Elizabeth, Rain and Renee.

A middle-school version of Mean Girls and darn close to every other PG-rated girl-power movie you or your daughters are likely to see this follows four brash eighth-graders as they have a sleepover to wear dress-up clothes freeze their bras fantasize about boys dance madly and celebrate their graduation to high school. They see themselves as social outcasts but while one (Kallie Flynn Childress) is short and plump. the others could be cheerleaders at any real school--Spy Kids' Alexa Vega (who gives the party and is the film's star) Mika Boorem and Scout Taylor-Compton. (Does anybody still name their kid "Jane" these days?) But just when they're being good girls and staying home as mom (Best in Show's delightfully edgy Jane Lynch) has demanded a snooty rival (the statuesque blonde Sara Paxton) and her coterie challenge them to a slightly risqué scavenger hunt. That involves getting into a bar and ordering Sex on the Beach cocktails changing the display in an Old Navy window (one of many shameless plugs) and escaping from a dimwit security guard by driving a tiny lime-green electric car that is the ugliest movie vehicle ever. In a surprisingly erotic scene for a PG movie Vega--wearing a tight red party dress with a plunging neckline that amply reveals why she's been having "growing pains"--sneaks into a "hot" boy's bathroom to steal his boxers watching from the shower as he removes them. Just in case you thought this all would lead to a teen reenactment of Psycho Sleepover ends with the usual sentimental empowerment lessons learned and friendships sealed. And the chubby girl even finds a boyfriend who likes brownies more than carrots.
The film's three casting directors all worked overtime to find young actresses amazingly reminiscent of slightly older girl-role-model favorites. Vega conveys the same mixture of insecurity and self-confidence as Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls and even has the same expressions. With her moon-round face long tangle of dark hair and glowing smile she might also remind adults of a teen Bonnie Raitt. But she's maturing so fast she already seems too old for this part physically and temperamentally. There are moments in fact when the actress acts dismissive of the story's clunky derivative plot mechanics. Meanwhile Boorem is warmly Kirsten Dunst-like and Paxton such an amazing reincarnation of Reese Witherspoon that I'll look for her in a Legally Blonde sequel when she hits 18. This is all good by the way - most everyone appears to relish her chance in the spotlight. But even better are the two offbeat comic actors who play Vega's parents--Lynch and the portly Jeff Garlin (of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as the clueless dad. The film reaches a moment of Freaky Friday hilarity with Vega discovers enthusiastic mom Lynch wiggling and writhing at a dance club. "Yeah older lady shakin' her boo-tay " the deejay announces as Vega cringes. It's a great movie parent-child moment.
Director Joe Nussbaum got his start in Hollywood with the cult favorite short George Lucas in Love and this marks his feature debut. He gets the train to the station in time so to speak but the pace is so chop-chop quick that a lot of promising comic and romantic scenes go underdeveloped amid the editing pace. And unfortunately Nussbaum kept in all the corny scenes involving an unfunny security guard (Steve Carell) who harasses the girls. There also are a lot of tiresome close-ups and two-shots - this could (and doubtlessly will) play on TV with little lost. So unlike the cast the direction isn't pretty. But writer Elisa Bell however does embellish the formulaic plot with some unusual--sometimes even downright surreal--dialogue. I'm still trying to figure out for instance what Sam Huntington as Vega's slightly older brother (a Giovanni Ribisi look-alike by the way) means when he tells her "Go be a teenager. It ends too soon. And it gets replaced by ribbons and lampshades." Huh?

Top Story: Travolta Regrets Turning Down Chicago Role
Actor John Travolta says he made a big mistake in turning down a starring role in the Academy Award-winning musical Chicago, Reuters reports. "I'm still angry with myself that I turned down the role of the lawyer in Chicago that Richard Gere then got," Travolta said in a German Bunte magazine excerpt released ahead of publication on Thursday. The 49-year-old Saturday Night Fever star said that while Gere did a great job with the dance numbers in Chicago, he would loved to have shown them all what he could do--one more time. Chicago, based on the 1975 Kander &amp; Ebb/Bob Fosse Broadway musical of the same name, dominated the Academy Awards and won the coveted Best Picture Oscar.
Bravo's Queer Eye a Ratings Hit
Cable channel Bravo's premiere episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in which five stylish gay men make over a straight man, set new ratings records for the network, Reuters reports. According to Nielsen Media Research, the show's Tuesday 10 p.m. bow set new records for the cabler among total viewers, households, audiences aged 18-49, and audiences aged 25-54. Bravo said the show attracted 1.64 million total viewers, which made it the No. 2 ad-supported cable network during the hour. Bravo had previously ranked No. 38 in that hour for the season to date.
Sharon Stone To Appear on The Practice
Sharon Stone, best known for her role in 1992 thriller Basic Instinct, is set to appear on three episodes of the ABC legal drama The Practice this fall, The Associated Press reports. Series creator David E. Kelley wouldn't discuss Stone's character but said there is a possibility she will stick around for more. The Practice is returning for its eighth season without stars Dylan McDermott, Lara Flynn Boyle. But Steve Harris, Camryn Manheim, Michael Badalucco and Jessica Capshaw will be back, joined by newcomers James Spader and Rhona Mitra.
Low Ticket Sales Cause Lollapalooza Show Cancellation
Promoters had to cancel the July 26 Lollapalooza rock concert in Vernon Downs racetrack in central New York because of low ticket sales and increased production costs, the AP reports. The revival tour was to feature Jane's Addiction, Audioslave, the Donnas, Queens of the Stone Age, Incubus and Jurassic 5. Laura Cohen, a publicist for Lollapalooza, said the Vernon Downs show was the second date dropped from the tour. Lollapalooza also canceled its opener in Ionia, Mich., in mid-June because of "staging and technical difficulties with the event site." The tour opened July 5 in Noblesville, Ind., instead.
Cuban Singer Celia Cruz Dead at 78
Legendary Cuban-born singer Celia Cruz, known as the "Queen of Salsa," died Wednesday at her home in New Jersey at the age of 78, Reuters reports. A representative for Cruz said the singer had been suffering from cancer and had been in a coma. Cruz, a Grammy Award-winner who recorded more than 70 albums, was born in Cuba but defected to the United States 1960. She was famed for her vocal talent, outrageous costumes, wild wigs and her trademark phrase: "Azucar!"-Spanish for "Sugar."
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Author Shields Dead at 68
Pulitzer-prize winning author Carol Shields, author of more than 20 books, died at the age of 68 after a long battle with breast cancer, Reuters reports. Shields earned international success in 1993 with her novel The Stone Diaries, a fictional biography of a woman who drifts through the role of child, wife, widow and mother. The novel went on to win a Pulitzer Prize as well as Canada's Governor General's Literary Award. Shields lived the last years of her life in Victoria, British Columbia, with her husband. She was the mother of five children.
Role Call: Tucci Boards Spielberg's Terminal
Stanley Tucci has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg's Terminal for DreamWorks Pictures. Tucci joins Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Chi McBride in the film, which revolves around a Balkan immigrant who makes an airport transit lounge his home after he learns that his passport has been voided and he's been left without a country. Terminal is set to begin shooting in September in Los Angeles.